Everyone has those moments on Facebook that are just embarrassing. A bad photo is posted. You have to deal with saying the wrong thing to the wrong person. You make a statement and wish you just had not. The bad news is that now, these messages are able to be collected by a new application and displayed, again, for everyone to see.

In a time when Facebook privacy settings are all important, it has become increasingly necessary to pay attention to the specifics of each setting or security measure provided. Some Facebook users are now learning the hard way that these messages, those all embarrassing ones that you hoped would get lost in the Facebook stratosphere, are popping up again.

A new website is now able to pull posts from the wall of various Facebook users in an effort to expose them. The website is located at YourOpenBook.org. The application on the site that is in question is Facebook Search. As the name implies, the feature allows users to search through the site for various reasons and with various methods.

One of the ways in which the application is working is by posting messages on the site from Facebook users who are brazenly bragging about playing hooky from school or work. Have you ever said something about your boss? Perhaps you made a comment about your coworker to another coworker thinking they would never learn about it. These are all things that could get you in trouble if they make it to FacebookSearch and on the site.

Perhaps you are like another group of Facebook users who posts information that is all too personal. If you are guilty of posting “too much information” on any subject, keep in mind that it is not just your followers on Facebook that are going to have to deal with it. Now, this search feature can easily pull information off the site and place it on the web.

Who are these people? While it may seem that the developers of such an application are after you or are being malicious with the way that the site is designed, they promise they do not have malicious intentions. So, why do it?
One of the reasons why the group has put together the website is to offer the world of Facebook users some way to teach others. There are plenty of naïve Facebook users that really have no idea what their security settings are nor are they conscious about what they put up on the site.

What is the moral of the story? Perhaps what people can take from this exposure through FacebookSearch is that they should take the time to learn what their privacy settings are and to adjust them accordingly. Further, realize that what you say on a social networking site like Facebook, does become public knowledge in many cases.

You can check your Facebook privacy settings by simply visiting the site directly and logging in to the security features. If you have not done so, check out the site and find out just what people are talking about.

In December, Facebook implemented yet another round of controversial privacy updates and changes in an effort to compete more widely with the more open social networks like Twitter.

As part of this update, Facebook implemented a “transition tool” which appeared at the top of Facebook homepages this past month with its own selection of recommended settings. If you were one of the users who opted for the recommended settings, you may now be surprised to find that you have given Facebook the right to publicize your status updates, photos, and shared links.

There are definitely valid concerns behind privacy so should you want to change these settings back, read on to find out how.

1. Who Can See The Things You Share (Status Updates, Photo, Videos, etc.)

If you accepted the new recommended settings then you have given Facebook full rights to any information included in your status updates. Depending on your applied search settings, you may have also given Facebook the right to share that information with search engines, too.

To change this setting simply take the following steps:

1. From your Profile page, hover your mouse over the Settings menu in the top right hand corner and click “Privacy Settings” from the list that appears.
2. Select “Profile Information”
3. Scroll down to the setting “Posts by Me.” which includes status updates, links, notes, photos, and videos.
4. Choose your desired setting using the drop-down box on the right.

2. Who Can Access Your Personal Info

After last month’s changes, “personal info,” now includes other information such as your birthday, your religious and political views, and your relationship status. Facebook set the new defaults for this other information to viewable by either “Everyone” (for family and relationships, aka relationship status) or to “Friends of Friends” (birthday, religious and political views). To change this setting back to “Only Friends” complete the following steps:

1. From your Profile page, hover your mouse over the Settings menu at the top right and click “Privacy Settings”.
2. Click “Profile Information” from the list of choices on the next page.
3. The third, fourth, and fifth item listed on this page are as follows: “birthday,” “religious and political views,” and “family and relationship.” Perhaps the most important is updating birthday to “Only Friends” as this information is often used in identity theft.
4. Depending on your own personal preferences, you may or may not feel comfortable sharing your relationship status and/or religious and political views with complete strangers. Keep in mind, while “Friends of Friends” sounds simple enough, it actually refers to everyone your friends have added as friends. This can still represent a large group of users you may not know.

3. What Google Can See – Keep Your Data Off the Search Engines

When you visit Facebook’s Search Settings page, a warning message pops up that reads:

There have been misleading rumors recently about Facebook indexing all your information on Google. This is not true. Facebook created public search listings in 2007 to enable people to search for your name and see a link to your Facebook profile. They will still only see a basic set of information.

The second setting listed on this Search Settings page refers to exactly what you’re allowing Google and the other search engines to index. If the box next to “Allow” is checked, you’re giving search engines the ability to access and index any information you’ve marked as visible by “Everyone.” As discussed above, there is definitely some information worth keeping to yourself. Keep your data out of search engines index by completing the following steps:

1. From your Profile page, hover your mouse over the Settings menu at the top right and click “Privacy Settings” from the list that appears.
2. Click “Search” from the list of choices on the next page.
3. Click “Close” on the pop-up message that appears.
4. On this page, uncheck the box labeled “Allow” next to the second setting “Public Search Results.” That keeps all your publicly shared information (items set to viewable by “Everyone”) out of the search engines. If you want to see what the end result looks like, click the “see preview” link in blue underneath this setting.

There are obviously other privacy settings to be aware of as well, in our opinion however, these are the most critical. That said, it is important to review all of your privacy settings to be sure you are creating the privacy you feel most comfortable with.

Today Facebook is rolling out a new set of more granular privacy controls to its 350 million members. Founder Mark Zuckerberg already announced the changes on December 1, but today they are going into effect.

Members will now be able to choose exactly who they share status updates, photos, videos, or any other piece of content posted on Facebook. The options include: “Friends, Friends of Friends, Everyone and Customized.” As part of this change, Facebook is killing off regional networks such as “New York” or “Silicon Valley,” which are too big and meaningless anyway.

These customized options will allow Facebook members to create Friends Lists so that you can share new baby photos with family, inappropriate YouTube videos with only your college buddies, or your latest professional news with your business friends. Overall, Facebook is simplifying its privacy settings to make them less confusing.

Giving users the ability to select privacy settings on the fly should encourage more people to select “everyone” as the default for much of what they share on Facebook. This really begins to open up the data that is made public and provides even more opportunity for Facebook search.

Facebook is in the process of a much needed overhaul of their privacy structure, one that is bound by a rather complex yet ineffective model. They will be allowing users to control permissions for browsing personal photos and entries. The system will be based off of three tiers- friends, friends of friends and everyone.
Currently, users are bound by groups defined by college boundaries, which is a model that has become obsolete.  Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said in a post Tuesday evening:

“almost 50 percent of all Facebook users are members of regional networks, so this is an important issue for us. If we can build a better system, then more than 100 million people will have even more control of their information.”

Facebook is suggesting that once the overhaul takes place, users should educate themselves on the new settings and make changes accordingly. We will alert you of the changes when they take place.